Call for Additional Chapters – Nintendo: History, Mediality, Poetics
Since the release of the FAMICOM (NES) in 1983, Nintendo has been regarded as a defining player in the digital games industry. As the developer of numerous consoles (from the NES and Gameboy to the latest Switch 2) and IP’s (Super Mario, Zelda, Pokémon), Nintendo is not only one of the industry’s most commercially successful companies, but has also influenced the work of several other development studios and publishers. Nintendo is often regarded as paradigmatic for the entire digital gaming landscape, whilst at the same time being credited with its own distinct ‘Nintendo-esque’ style – in terms of corporate culture, game design and console design.
This planned volume examines Nintendo and its games, on the one hand, as significant phenomena within the wider digital gaming culture, whilst, on the other hand, it aims to investigate the extent to which these phenomena are always characterised by a ‘Nintendo-esque’ element. The focus will be on 1) the company’s recent history, which is also part of the broader history of digital gaming and would remain under-examined without an analysis of its relationship with companies such as Sony and Microsoft; 2) the integration of hardware and software – which often differs from that of competitors, as can be observed, for example, in the Nintendo DS and Wii; and 3) the Nintendo-specific design of individual games (and series) such as Super Mario or The Legend of Zelda, whose influence on the rest of the industry is abundantly documented.
The aim of this volume is therefore to discuss phenomena which, on the one hand, are characteristic of Nintendo, but which, on the other hand, are always linked to other games, players and developers, influencing them and being influenced by them.
We are particularly seeking contributions on the following topics:
– The past and recent history of the company or individual figures
– Nintendo as an employer
– Distribution and platform economics
– Criticism, reviews, discourses (keywords: nintendo-bonus/nintendoomed, casual games)
– Fan cultures, modding and community practices
– Music from individual titles/series
– Specific combinations of hardware and software, such as those found on the Nintendo DS or the Wii
– game-based learning
– health
– specific developers/studios
– Contributions on individual titles or series, such as:
– Xenoblade Chronicles
– Bayonetta
– Pikmin
– Tomodachi Life
– Professor Layton and other DS-related titles
– Platformers such as Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Kirby
Titles/series that have already been confirmed and for which no further contributions are therefore being sought: Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, Metroid, Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Splatoon, Animal Crossing.
If you are interested, please send an abstract of no more than 300 words by 16 September 2026 to kontakt@phillipbrandes.de and florian.kluge@uni-bielefeld.de. Please use a standard file format (.doc, .docx, .odt). Abstracts and papers may be written in German or English. The final papers should not exceed 40,000 characters (including spaces). Peer review and publication by an indexed publisher are planned.
We expect to provide feedback by 24 September 2026.
The deadline for submitting full papers is 24 February 2027.
Publication of the papers is scheduled for the third or fourth quarter of 2027.